Question

Describe each of the five unique stages of the sleep cycle.

Answer 1

The five stages of the sleep cycle are:

• Stage one - also known as the transitional phase:

In this stage the person is going to feel that is floating in and out of consciousness, it's going to feel that the body and mind are slowing down. You may be partially awake when all of this occurs. It might take around the first 10 minutes of the sleep.

• Stage two - Also known as the light sleep stage:

Here the heart rates begin to slow, eye movement, muscle activities, brain waves and, the core body temperature decreases. This stage takes approximately 50% of our sleep cycle.

• Stages three and four are important because it is here where we get close to the deep sleep. During these two stages, the body is in a deep relaxing phase where. These two stages are often put together because they are periods of slow wave sleeps. These are usually the hardest stages to wake up from.
• Stage five - also known as the REM ( Rapid eye movement ) stage

During this stage, we experience dreams in forms of stories. In this stage, the mind energizes itself while the body is immobile, unlike non-REM stages where is the opposite of it. An individual begins to wake up at the end of stage five.

A complete dream cycle from stage I to stage V lasts around 90-110 minutes.

Answer 2

There are five stages of sleep. Stages 1-4 are non-REM (rapid eye movement) sleep the last stage is REM sleep.

Stage 1 is when light sleep takes place, you drift in and out of sleep and noises and lights can wake you up very easily. In this stage, the eyes move slowly and muscle activity starts to slow down. In a light sleep many people experience sudden muscle twitches and can get a sensation of falling.

Stage 2, eyes stop moving and brain waves slow down, there can occasionally be a burst of rapid brain waves though. The body begins to prepare for deep proper sleep. Our body temperature begins to drop and our heart rate begins to slow down.

Stage 3, extremely slow brain waves are interspersed with smaller, faster waves. This is now deep sleep. In stage 3 people can experience sleepwalking, night terrors, talking during one’s sleep, and bedwetting. These behaviors tend to occur during the transitions between non-REM and REM sleep.

Stage 4, deep sleep continues. If you are woken up during this stage you can feel disoriented and confused for a short time.

Stage 5 REM sleep. During REM sleep our brain waves copy activity during the waking state. The eyes remain closed but move rapidly from side-to-side, this is possibly due to an intense dream and brain activity that occurs during this stage.